Toyota recalls cars over engine problems

TORONTO — Toyota Canada announced on Thursday a recall of 200,000 cars in Canada due to “improperly manufactured” engine components.

The automaker said in a release that about 136,000 Toyota Corollas and 64,300 Toyota Matrix vehicles, all from the model years 2005-2008, could have a defect that in most cases could cause the “check engine” light to illuminate, cause harsh shifting, or prevent the engine from turning on.

In “a small number of cases,” the engine could stop while the car is driven, the release said.

The problem stems from faulty soldering on the engine control module’s varistor, which protects circuits from high voltage. The release said cracks can develop in the soldering, which leads to the engine malfunctioning.

While no accidents or injuries have yet been linked to the defect, Toyota said all vehicles can soon be taken into dealerships to be repaired for free.

In the U.S., Toyota recalled another 1.1-million cars in a parallel recall onThursday.

Toyota has recalled about 9-million vehicles over the past year, many because of a much-publicized sudden-acceleration issue.